Official blog of the Greater Sacramento Progressive Alliance, one of the largest and most vibrant progressive activist groups in California with more than 7,000 members. We educate and mobilize Progressives in Sacramento, the surrounding foothill areas, and at Sac State and Folsom Lake College.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Why are students so apathetic ?

Balancing
Anger, Hyperbole and CriticismBy

Rodolfo
F. Acuña

Writing books and writing
blogs are similar. They should be truth. If they were not the author loses
credibility and his/her ability to convince suffers. This is how it should
be. But Arizona is testing this rule of thumb.

The assault on the truth in
Arizona makes it impossible for those seeking the truth to get traction, and
like Sisyphus; they fall into a rut with the boulder rolling back on them, at
every turn.

Because of the apparent
futility and ability to communicate, people become dispirited. Those who
continue to fight have to resort to hyperbole to get their message across. They
become so desperate that they want to emotionally shake up people to get their
attention.

A hyperbole is defined as an
exaggeration of fact, but in my experience this not necessarily true. The
speaker just wants to wake up people.

Hyperbole was used in the
1960s before the anti-war demonstrations when students were told that they were
exaggerating the truth. When people finally woke up thousands of
Americans, and hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese were dead.

The truth be told, a motivated
student mass stopped the use of nuclear weapons and the bombing of innocent
civilians. At home changes were brought about by politicized students, which
made possible the enrollment minorities into all white student campuses.

Students were interested in a
more just society, and they were attracted to groups that had a social purpose.
Consequently, the number of fraternities and sororities fell drastically on
college campuses.

American students, for a brief
time, became more like European and Latin American students who have
historically been politically and socially active.

One of the roles of students
was to act as champions of the underdog and confront tyranny. Because of
this, Latin American students were targeted by dictators.

The United States does not
have a tradition of student activism. And recent in times campus activism has
become an endangered species.

It is difficult to build mass
movements on campuses when public colleges and universities have been
privatized, and tuition at four year public institutions run close to $10,000 a
year.

My reaction to this apathy has
passed through stages, beginning with frustration and then turning into anger.
The Arizona experience has lessened my patience.

The Arizona reality is that
corporations have taken over state and local governments and most elected
officials have capitulated to corporate interests. It is not hyperbole when I
say that Arizona has become a fascist state where “[a]ll pretenses of democracy
are flung to the winds.” In Germany it began with the suppression of labor and
then teachers; in Arizona these sectors have been reduced to a whimper.

In times like these I have
found myself trying too hard, and becoming a motivational speaker instead of a
teacher, relying on what some may call hyperboles to make my point. But, is it
a case of exaggeration? In a democratic society this something we cannot answer
unless we are allowed to test the facts, which is impossible in Arizona.

As an educator I am always
searching for reasons why students are so apathetic. The other day I was at an
event at Tia Chuchas, a community center in Sylmar, California, where I
appeared with Luis Rodríguez, an internationally known novelist. Luis and his
wife Trini founded and fund Tia Chuchas.

The audience was made up
mostly of students with some community activists present. Among other
things we discussed the situation in Tucson and the state and future of
Chicana/o Studies. There was only one other university professor present
although there were several teachers.

During the discussion period,
I noticed that the students were willing to criticize the system but were
silent about their programs and teachers. The silence was almost
deafening.

I saw this silence as one of
the major reasons as to why there has not been a major revolt among
progressives in Arizona and among Chicana/o Studies professors nationwide. My
feeling is that we have either grown complacent or that we cannot handle the
truth.

I asked the attendees why they
were not angry. Why haven’t they criticized, for example, the Chicana/o Studies
Department at California State University at Northridge? Were the
students satisfied that only two or three professors attend MEChA meetings and
that, for the most part, the overwhelming majority of Chicana/o studies
professors nationally have been complacent about the destruction of the Tucson Unified
School District Mexican American Studies Program?

Where is our sense of
community? Where is our sense of pride? Why aren’t we mad as hell? I reminded
them that every social movement is based on moral outrage.

I knew instantly that I had
pushed the choir too hard; however, it did provoke a discussion.

Luis was the voice of reason.
He cautioned that anger could also be very destructive. Many community programs
have been destroyed by unbridled anger and what often amounted to unreasonable
demands.

I conceded the point but I
pointed out that there is a danger in being reluctant to criticize Chicana/o
professors and administrators because they are our friends. This is the symptom
of a much greater national problem.

As it turned out, the
Northridge MEChA students are frustrated by the lack of involvement of their
professors. However, they do not want to push the criticism too far, they do
not want to get angry and break relations. Therefore, nothing changes.

Relationships differed in the
sixties and seventies when some programs went through periods of turmoil.
Criticism often went too far and programs perished or entered into a state of
just existing.

What is happening in Chicana/o
Studies is a microcosm of what is happening in society. The same thing is
happening within professional and community organizations and in the political
arena. Few leaders or politicos have contact with the mass of students or the
public. Their world is comprised of a professional activist class made up of
what have become their friends and in many cases their extended family.

After the Tia Chucha meeting I
continued the dialogue. The students said that they had tried to talk to
faculty members and that they responded that they did not go to MEChA meetings
because MEChA was not like it was in the early days or that they were teaching
during the hours of the MEChA meetings.

I asked them why they did not
press the professors as why they didn’t go to the meetings to make MEChA like
it was in sixties. Also, why didn’t they change their schedule in order
to make the meetings?

The truth be told, the
professors were giving pretexts. Most of today’s faculty members were in grade
school in 1970. If they were in MEChA it was in decline. Moreover, most are not
involved off campus, and they are not heavily involved in professional
activities.

Maybe I am over simplifying it
but involvement with students is part of teaching (it is called mentoring). If
we don’t like teaching, we should find another profession.

But that is another story. The
question is why is there so much apathy? Are students and faculty partly
responsible for the apathy? Why is there so much apathy in society?

Is the answer for students to
get mad as hell and act like Robespierre, creating a climate where the Madam
Guillotine lops off heads? Given today’s times, what was good in the 1790s is
not necessarily a model for today.

We are at the point that
social movements, outside the bought off Tea Partyers and the small Occupy Wall
Streeters, have become complacent and reluctant to criticize not only their
professors but their elected officials and leaders.

Those who do not want to go
along with the situation escape into social media like Facebook where they have
relatively little impact. (What is happening in the Middle East and Europe is
an aberration. I concede that social media can be used to motivate people. The
question is, how?)

Ironically, you cannot even
escape criticism by writing in the isolation of Facebook. Many of my friends
object to my portrayal of Latino National Organizations and leaders and the
Latino community’s cheerleading of the political processes. They are not
comfortable with criticism.

A sail boat is called a sail
boat because its sails pick up the wind. If you do not have any wind the boat
does not move and you do not reach your destination. Without using hyperbole,
we are going to have to blow wind into the sails of our community.

In this context, Arizona has
given us a powerful wakeup call,

It has exposed our weaknesses.

If we cannot deal with
problems in Arizona; if we cannot hold onto a basic program like Mexican
American Studies; if we cannot get the federal government to enforce the U.S.
Constitution, how in the hell can we call ourselves a political force?

We have more than enough
people to move a progressive agenda. But, it can only be achieved through
united action. This will not happen as long as we live under illusions such as
Chicano Power; we are the Number 1 Minority; we are the future. All that
matters is if we can get the boat to sail and tack our way to a common
destination.

The alternative is to stay
stuck in the middle of the ocean and do nothing. But, if we do nothing the end
will be to drown in the cesspool that our society is becoming.

Ed. Note. The Bilingual Multicultural Education
Department at CSU-Sacramento had many of the characteristics of Chicano
Studies. It graduated the greatest number of Chicano/Mexicano teachers in Northern California.

Depositions begin this week in the case
against HB 2281. You can donate by clicking on to http://saveethnicstudies.org/ . We
are run entirely by volunteers; however, depositions are expensive. Please
donate at least $5 a month.

Depositions have started in the case against Sean Arce and José González.
Four hours of depositions were taken of both Arce and Gonzalez. Our side
deposed Ward this past week. Please donate: https://www.wepay.com/donations/144408

Feel the Bern!

Find us on Facebook!

Join our Email list!

Search This Blog

Mission Statement

Welcome to the PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE. We are a multi-racial, multi-issue "rainbow coalition" dedicated to social justice, peace and building progressive power. Our key priorities include economic justice; equal rights and equal opportunities for all regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation; international solidarity; humanitarian service; eradicating poverty at home and abroad; environmental protection and sustainable development; and electing progressives to public office and then holding them accountable.

Founded in 2005, we have grown to more than 7,000 members and have emerged as one of the largest and most grassroots activist groups in California. We are proud to serve as a local chapter Our Revolution, the national movement inspired by Bernie Sanders' historic 2016 Presidential Campaign, and as a local affiliate of United for Peace & Justice (UFPJ), a network of several hundred peace and justice groups from all over the world.

United for Peace & Justice

unitedforpeace.org

United for Peace & Justice

DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS OF AMERICA

America's Democratic Socialist Voice

Keep the Dream Alive!

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

El Dorado County Democrats

Progressive Democrats of America

pdamerica.org

Close the School of Assassins!

SOA Watch

Rainbow Push Coalition

Rebuild the Dream

Van Jones

Occupy Sacramento

Check out Occupy Sac on Facebook

Take Class Action! April 13th, 2011

Sac State Students Demand Quality, Affordable Education

Malcolm X

"Power in defense of freedom is greater than power in behalf of tyranny and oppression”

Solidarity with Wisconsin Workers!

An Injury to One is an Injury to All

Amy Goodman

Democracy Now!

The People's Historian

W.E.B. Du Bois

Scholar, Educator, Freedom Fighter

Donate or Pay Annual Dues

!Si Se Puede!

Dolores Huerta & Cesar Chavez

Sen. Paul Wellstone

"If we don't fight hard enough for the things we stand for, at some point we have to recognize that we don't really stand for them."